There is a need to understand teenagers' views towards having children to better tailor sexuality and reproductive health education. We conducted a survey of parenthood intentions for 16-18-year-old students. The survey was anonymous, contained open-ended and multiple-choice questions and was live from 10 May 2021 to 18 July 2022.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo understand the extent to which different sources of diet and nutrition information are sought, trusted, and relied upon for making dietary changes, the present international web-based survey study gauged participants' ( = 3419) diet-nutrition information-seeking behaviors from 22 interpersonal and general sources with varying quality, trust levels in these sources, and reliance on each source for making dietary changes. Qualitative insights were also captured regarding trustworthiness formation. The results revealed a disconnect between source popularity and perceived trustworthiness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere has been little consideration in the science education literature of schools or curricula that advocate creationism. Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) is among the world's largest providers of creationist science materials with a curriculum divided into a system of workbooks which students complete at their own speed. This article examines the ways in which ACE presents particular areas of science that it considers to be contentious, namely evolution and climate change.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReproductive health education is crucial to ensure young people understand their reproductive system and can make informed decisions about their sexual lives and fertility, including whether they want to have children or not. This study involved an investigation of the intended UK school curricula for 14-18 year-olds as they relate to reproductive health. Analysis revealed substantial differences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Patient-centred care has been raised as an important component in providing high-quality healthcare services. This research aims to measure physicians' attitudes towards patient-centred care in Chinese healthcare settings and to identify the sociodemographic predictors of their attitudes using an exploratory research design.
Design: A cross-sectional survey.
To understand the susceptibility to nutrition-health misinformation related to preventing, treating, or mitigating the risk of COVID-19 during the initial lockdowns around the world, the present international web-based survey study (15 April-15 May 2020) gauged participants' ( = 3707) level of nutrition-health misinformation discernment by presenting them with 25 statements (including unfounded or unproven claims circulated at the time), alongside the influence of information sources of varying quality on the frequency of changes in their eating behavior and the extent of misinformation held, depending on the source used for such changes. Results revealed widespread misinformation about food, eating, and health practices related to COVID-19, with the 25 statements put to participants receiving up to 43% misinformed answers (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe examine the bioethical issues that arise from long-duration space missions, asking what there is that is distinctive about such issues. We pay particular attention to the possibility that such space missions, certainly if they lead to self-sustaining space settlements, may require human enhancement, and examine the significance of reproduction in space for bioethics. We conclude that while space bioethics raises important issues to do with human survival and reproduction in very hazardous environments, it raises no issues that are distinct from those in terrestrial bioethics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe issue of trust in science has come to the fore in recent years. I focus on vaccines, first looking at what is known about trust in vaccines and then concentrating on whether what science education teaches about vaccines can be trusted. I present an argument to connect the phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy to the issue of trust and then argue for what an education about vaccines in school science might look like that takes seriously the notion of respect for students, including students who hold views about vaccination with which science teachers might disagree.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Child Psychol Psychiatry
January 2021
Although the theory of evolution lies at the heart of contemporary biology, its influence on the study of child psychology and psychiatry has been limited. In earlier work we have argued that evolutionary thinking has much of value for clinicians. Here, we explore the possible significance of evolutionary theory for understanding child abuse by mothers, particularly neglect, emotional abuse and physical abuse.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlob Health Promot
March 2021
In this article we examine the importance of religion for COVID-19 health promotion. We advance three main arguments. First, religion plays an important role in affecting how likely it is that people will become infected with COVID-19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this position paper, I examine how the history, philosophy and sociology of science (HPS) can contribute to science education in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. I discuss shortcomings in the ways that history is often used in school science, and examine how knowledge of previous pandemics might help in teaching about COVID-19. I look at the potential of issues to do with measurement in the context of COVID-19 (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article examines some selected ethical issues in human space missions including human missions to Mars, particularly the idea of a space refuge, the scientific value of space exploration, and the possibility of human gene editing for deep-space travel. Each of these issues may be used either to support or to criticize human space missions. We conclude that while these issues are complex and context-dependent, there appear to be no overwhelming obstacles such as cost effectiveness, threats to human life or protection of pristine space objects, to sending humans to space and to colonize space.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPractical independent research projects (IRPs) are a feature of school science in a number of countries. To assess the impact of IRPs on students, a systematic review of the literature was undertaken. Thirty-nine papers met the review inclusion criteria, reporting on work from twelve countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis review examines how natural history museums (NHMs) can enhance learning and engagement in science, particularly for school-age students. First, we describe the learning potential of informal science learning institutions in general, then we focus on NHMs. We review the possible benefits of interactions between schools and NHMs, and the potential for NHMs to teach about challenging issues such as evolution and climate change and to use digital technologies to augment more traditional artefacts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSubstantial controversy is a consistent feature of UK animal health and welfare policy. BSE, foot and mouth disease, bovine TB and badger culling, large indoor dairies, and wild animals in circuses are examples. Such policy issues are inherently normative; they include a substantial moral dimension.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBelief in creationism and intelligent design is widespread and gaining significance in a number of countries. This article examines the characteristics of science and of religions and the possible relationship between science and religion. I argue that creationism is sometimes best seen not as a misconception but as a worldview.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTherapeutic human cloning has the potential significantly to reduce human suffering and enhance human happiness. This is the main ethical argument in its favour. The main ethical arguments against it centre on questions to do with the moral status of the human embryo.
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